Misconception
by Ortensia Scipio
Summary: When Mickey comes over for a date that he actually remembers, he finds Minnie's house ransaked and she's missing. When he goes to fill out a missing person's report, Chief O'Hara tells him that they think they've already found Minnie, and it's not looking pretty.
1. Chapter 1

centerChapter 1 /center

Mickey smiled as he walked up the front walk to Minnie's purple house, whistling away through the fact that he actually remembered a date before it was too late and wanted to surprise his girl with a bouquet of flowers he had behind his back.

He pushed the doorbell before fixing his bow tie. He looked back up, expecting her to open the door only to be staring at it. "Minnie?" Mickey asked, knocking his fist on the door a little. He figured she was in the shower and went ahead to try the door handle. Finding it unlocked, he opened the door, dropping his flowers behind him at what he saw.

Her living room was upturned, insides of the sofa and pillows scattered through-out the room. "Minnie?!" Mickey asked, worried as he walked in, careful to not step on anything. "Minnie?!"

Mickey started up the stairs, as he thought,i _I hope she's up there and maybe she's just sick and can't clean up the house at the moment. /i_

"Minnie? You up here?" Mickey called out, hoping to hear something respond as he rushed through her room, only to find the same scene as downstairs. The house was ransacked. A whimpering sound caught his attention to her bed as he noticed a lump shivering. "Minnie? It's me, Mickey. You ok?" Mickey asked, going over to the bed. He lifted up the covers only to see a black and white cat. "Figaro, where's Minnie?"

The cat looked up at him as if he had no idea what Mickey was talking about before curling up and going to sleep.

"I gotta get help." Mickey determined as he turned to rush out of her room and down the stairs. "Who knows what happened to her. She could've gotten kidnapped-! Pete!"

Mickey slammed the front door behind himself and rushed over to Pete, the formally peg-legged.

Mickey got to the man's house and banged on the door as loud as he could until the side of his glove was torn by the wood.

"Will you quit that racket!" Pete called out before opening the door. "What?"

"What have you done to Minnie?" Mickey demanded to know.

"Minnie, I haven't seen her since last weekend." Pete said, annoyed at the mouse.

Mickey closed his eyes. He was tired of Pete's lies and before either one knew what had happened, Mickey had kicked out Pete's faux leg, forcing him to the ground.

"Why you little-" Pete started as Mickey put a foot on his chest.

"Where is Minnie?" Mickey asked, his voice taking on a new level of menace.

"I don't know, get off of me, you twerp." Pete said, rolling over so he could get out from under the mouse. "What'd she do, run away from you?"

Mickey felt his eyes tearing up as he realized Pete really didn't know anything about Minnie's disappearance. He closed his eyes as he turned around to leave. He stopped at the edge of the porch, keeping himself faced away, and threatened, "If I find out you had something to do with her disappearance, you'll wish you had never lived past your Peg-Leg Pete title."

Mickey found himself running faster than he knew he was capable, heading straight for the police department to get a search team out hunting for her. His mind started to run through a list of people he could remember trying to take her in the past but none fit the MO. She had never been forced out of her house like that. It was like the person who had kidnapped her was looking for something as well.

Mickey rushed into the police department and went straight towards the man behind the counter and the only person in there at the time, Police Chief O'Hara.

"Mickey." O'Hara said, seeing the young mouse as he stopped in front of the desk.

"Chief, Minnie's gone missing! We've gotta get everyone together and go out looking for her!" Mickey demanded, his voice hoarse from lack of oxygen.

Chief O'Hara's face dropped at Mickey's words. He lowered his pen and stood up. "Mickey, come with me."

"What?" Mickey asked, not understanding why they weren't heading out to look for his girl as he followed his friend behind doors that lead deeper inside the building.

"Mickey, when was the last time you saw Minnie?" the chief asked, trying not to look at the mouse as he lead through the maze of corridors, heading to an all mettle door.

"Yesterday, about dinner time." Mickey informed. "Why aren'-"

"Mickey, we found someone last night around ten." the chief interupted, sounding like he was fighting back tears as he placed a hand on the metal door. He looked down at his friend and continued, "We haven't been able to identify her, so for the moment we've been calling her a Jane Dow. I'm hoping after you take a look she still will be a Jane Dow."

Mickey felt his face grow hotter as his feelings rushed around in his mind. He followed his friend into the morgue, seeing only one table in use. They went over to the table and O'Hara put a hand on the cloth. He turned to the mouse and warned, "We found her covered in cuts like she had been in a bad fight."

"I... I want to see." Mickey said, forcing himself to stand tall, hoping the figure under the cloth would be someone else.

O'Hara pulled back the cloth covering the body to show Mickey a mouse of black fur that was stained crimson red from the numerous cuts covering her face.

Mickey stepped back, a hand instantly covering his mouth at the sight of the female lying in front of him. He couldn't look any longer, turning his head as he felt his stomach turn. "I can't tell." Mickey admitted as O'Hara covered her up again.

"Can you get us something of her's that would have her DNA?" O'Hara asked. "A comb, tooth brush."

"Yes, I'll be right back!" Mickey said, hope alive in his voice as he rushed out of the room.

"Put it in a zip-lock bag!" O'Hara called towards the mouse.

Mickey nodded his head, knowing his friend couldn't see him, but prayed that there was some way that girl wasn't Minnie.


	2. Chapter 2

centerChapter 2/center

"Mickey?" Clarabelle asked, seeing the mouse run back into the police department, a bag in his hand with a tooth brush inside.

Mickey ignored the cow and went straight to O'Hara, handing him the bag.

"We'll get this sent down to the lab right away." the chief said, taking the bag. "Hopefully it will come back negative."

"That's all we can do right now, isn't it?" Mickey asked as the chief turned to go back down the hallway they had gone through earlier.

"Ya, I'm afraid so." O'Hara said, leaving the mouse in the loby.

"Mickey, what on earth is going on?" Clarabelle asked. "I saw you running around town and noticed something was going on. What is it?"

"Minnie's disappeared." Mickey said, holding back tears as the image of the girl on the table reappeared in his mind. "They think she was..." He dropped to his knees, his hands covering his eyes as his tears won out.

"Mickey!" Clarabelle exclaimed, dropping to her knees to see if she could help.

"There's a girl... her face is cut up... back there... in the morgue." Mickey managed to get out between his tears. i_I'll never be able to hold her... kiss her again./i _He thought as he felt Clarabelle wrapping her arms around her friend.

"There's still hope that it's not her, right?" Clarabelle asked, trying to calm the mouse down. She pulled him away and forced him to look her in the eyes as she continued. "They were talking about a DNA test, right. To see if she is Minnie or not?"

Mickey managed to nod his head as he tried to stop crying, cursing himself on the inside for acting like a little child.

"Then all we can do is pray that it's not Minnie and hope that the poor girl who is on that table's family gets notified." Clarabelle said, smiling at him.

"Anyway, it can't be Minnie. You two still have to get married." Horace's voice said, getting the two to look up.

"How long have you been hovering, you mule?" Clarabelle asked, standing up to look her boyfriend in the eyes.

"Hey, you're always telling me it's not polite to interrupt." Horace said, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared her back. He stopped the stare and looked down at Mickey as he was standing up himself. "How long until you find out the results?"

"I don't know." Mickey admitted. "But I want to be here as soon as they find out."

"Than we'll wait with you." Horace said, sitting down on the chairs built into the wall.

Almost an hour had past with the only thing collecting was friends in wait for the report. Mickey smiled at Donald and Daisy as they walked in, thankful for the support.

"Mickey." O'Hara called, his voice not betraying his emotions.

Mickey got up from his seat and walked over to the man, hope in his eyes as he saw the papers in his hands.

"I'm afraid it was an 75% match." O'Hara said, remorse showing in his face. "As far as we can tell, she is Minnie."


	3. Chapter 3

centerChapter 3 /center

_iSo much has happened./i_ Minnie thought as she drove down a long straight road. She wiped a tear away from her face, trying to stop crying. For the past week she had been crying, calling out for a missing family member. i_I hope Mickey's not worried about me. I know what I'll do. I'll go straight to his place and surprise him. Too bad I don't have good news./i._

The mouse drove into town and went straight to her boyfriend's yellow house, surprised to see his car not in site. She parked on the side of the street and went to the door, knocking on it. She waited a while before knocking again, wondering where he was. She leaned over to look through a window and saw Pluto and Figaro snuggled up. i_Good, he got my letter./i _Minnie thought, smiling at the site of the two animals.

Minnie went back to her car and decided to go over to Goofy's to see if Mickey was there. She parked in front of his little trailer and went to the door only to find the same scene. No one home.

"Are you looking for Dippy?" an elderly voice asked, getting her attention.

"Uh, ya." Minnie said, remembering Goofy's real name was Dippy as she walked around Goofy's fenced in yard to get closer to the older woman sitting on her porch. "Do you know where he is?"

"Probably with his best friend, Mickey." the woman said, rocking herself. "They're at the viewing."

"Who's viewing? Someone died?" Minnie asked.

"I would guess so." the woman nodded her head.

"Thank you." Minnie said, rushing towards her car. She jumped in and turned on the car. "I wonder who died." Minnie said to herself as she rushed towards the only funeral home in the city.

Minnie rushed into the building, skidding to a stop at what she saw. Pictures of herself hung by a casket that Mickey was standing by, tears streaming down his cheeks. She made her way towards him and heard some of what he was saying.

"What will I do without you, my poor little Minnie." Mickey said, one of her bows in his hands as he fought back his tears. He gave up, letting the tears run down his cheeks. He pulled out a ring from his pocket and slid it on the girl's finger as he said, "I... I never got to ask you... if you'd... like to marry me."

"I'd say yes." Minnie said, getting his attention as she walked over to him.

"Minnie!" Mickey gasped, stepping back as his face went pale.

"Minnie?" Daisy asked, first to take notice of the commotion at the front of the room.

"Minnie, you're alive!" Mickey said, jumping up to hug the girl. "How? Where? What?"

"I had to go out of town. One of my cousins disappeared and I had to go and help try to find her. Didn't you get the letter I left you?" Minnie tried to explain as everyone surrounded them. She pulled Mickey away and looked him in the eyes. "You thought I was dead?"

"Letter? When I got to your house last week, it was a mess. I thought you had gotten kidnapped, and when O'Hara said the DNA matched this girl to a toothbrush I got from your house, everyone assumed it was you." Mickey tried to explain.

Minnie let go of Mickey and went to look at the girl in the casket only to sigh. "I was afraid of this."

"What?" Donald asked, wondering what was going on.

"Last week my cousin disappeared. I had to come back home today, but they're still looking for her. I guess I can tell them to stop looking." Minnie explained, her eyes glued to the girl that looked so much like herself. "This is my cousin, Caroline."

"That would explain why the DNA was a close enough match that we thought it was you." Horace said, understanding.

"I'm just glad you're here and alive." Mickey said, hugging her tight.

"Me too, Mickey." Minnie giggled as she hugged him back.

They let go for Mickey to turn to Caroline's body as he removed the ring he had just put on her. He knelt down on his knee in front of Minnie and asked, "Will you forgive a crazy mouse and marry him?"

"Of course Mickey. I love you." Minnie said as he put the ring on her left hand before the two found themselves in an embrace.

"Why can't you be as romantic as that?" Clarabelle asked, looking at Horace.


End file.
